Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America

Though comprising only 10 percent of annual immigration to the U.S., refugees are a distinct component of the foreign-born population in many metropolitan areas. Using data from the Census and the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, this report examines where refugees come from—documenting significant region-specific flows tied to various overseas conflicts—and where they land, finding that refugee destinations have shifted away from typical immigrant gateways housing large foreign-born populations to newer, often smaller, places.